Geniza Lab

Magical text. Six pages, Arabic script. See also Bodl. MS heb. c 13/3 (PGP 6406). (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter from Yeshu'a b. Yosef to Nahray b. Nissim.

Engagement (shiddukhin) agreement. Since there are no betrothal (erusin/qiddushin) agreements in the Geniza before the twelfth century, this document is probably an engagement agreement despite the fact that 'amlaka' means either 'betrothed' or 'engaged,' and despite the fact that the word engagement is not mentioned directly in the document. he engagements were conducted in front of both the Babylonian and the Palestinian congregation as both Yefet b. David, the leader of the Palestinian congregation, and Avraham b. Sahlān (mentioned here as the 'Aluf he-Ḥaver) and his son Neḥemya from the Babylonian congregation are mentioned. Friedman (Jewish Marriage in Palestine, 2:447) dated the document to 1028 CE, despite its verso: Bodl. MS. Heb. c 13, fol. 22v(?). From the same ledger: ENA 4010.28, ENA NS 8.15, and Bodl. MS heb. c 13/21.

Witness statement given on 25 April 1028. Mubārak b. Hiba, a beadle of the Babylonian community in Fustat, declares that he had caught a man on the last day of Passover and confined him in his house. Yaʿaqov Levi b. Yosef testifies that he saw the imprisoned man escape through a window of the beadle’s house. (Information from Goitein notes linked below.) Another court record from the same date is found in Bodl. MS heb. c 13/21 recto.

Letter by Saʿadya Gaon to the Jews of Fustat, fragmentarily preserved; this copy 11th century. Saʿadya stresses the importance of the Oral Law, mentions the names of his supporters in Baghdad and urges the Jews of Fustat to maintain close links with him and his Academy, viz., Sura. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 27; the classmark in Gil is incorrect.)

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Efrayim b. Shemarya, approximately 1035.

Letter from a certain Yosef, in Aden, to Yosef Ibn Shanju, in Fustat/Cairo. In Hebrew. Dating: Early 16th century, based on the greetings to Efrayim Karo (v28–29). The sender is reporting on his business affairs in Aden, where he arrived from "Tabor" in Egypt (apparently there is a location that sounds like this between Fuwwa and Rashīd). The merchandise he was expecting to receive from India never arrived. He is planning a trip to Calicut. He mentions two Jewish traders in Aden, Moshe Hakan and David al-Kehlado, who are involved in business with him in Calicut and Surat. There is another, Ibn Yaqar, who is active in the city of Berbera (in Somalia). Information from A. David's edition via FGP.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Location: New Cairo. Groom: Natan b. David. Bride: Sitt al-Sāda bt. ʿOvadya. One of the oldest and largest illuminated medieval ketubbot from the Geniza. Containing six layers of calligraphic borders of varying widths, including piyyutim in micrography; one thin border of gold outlined in blue; one wide border of gold calligraphy on a blue background; two arches of intersecting circles of micrography interspersed with red, blue, and gold shapes, and the monumental calligraphy of the poetic superscription in gold and blue. As a whole, this ketubbah appears to have been executed to the highest standards of medieval Levantine Jewish book art. Some portions of other decorated and illuminated ketubbot from this period have been preserved, but because of their fragmentary state they have not yet received extensive scholarly attention (see, for example, T-S 16.104, T-S 16.73, and T-S 24.17). Join by Noam Sienna, and information from Sienna, N. (2018). Reunited At Last: T-S K10.4 and Bodl. MS. Heb. c. 13/25. [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, July 2018]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.34050. Note that Goitein treats Bodl. MS heb. c 13/25–26 and Bodl. MS heb. c 13/27–28 as if they are pieces of the same ketubba. This is possible but not certain, as the fragments are not continuous.

Ketubba. Location: Cairo. Groom: Natan(?) b. David. Bride: Sitt al-Sāda b. ʿAdaya. In the handwriting of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe? (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

Magical text. Six pages, Arabic script. See also Bodl. MS heb. c 13/2 (PGP 6405). (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, at least partially for rental income, including for the year 1337/8 CE (1649 Seleucid).

Family letter in Ladino. "To my mother-in-law in the place of my mother, after I and your daughter Rica kiss your hands: know how astonished we are that after your departure you have not sent us a single letter or an inquiry after our health, knowing how you left us heartbroken on account of your departure. If I had found someone with whom to send my letters, I would have sent you more than two letters. For this reason, we beg you, I and my wife, that with the first person who comes, please write to us of your health. Peace. Many greetings from me and from my wife to the very honorable Yosef Jayan (?) and to your [presumably here addressing Yosef] very honorable wife Doña Esther. Many greetings from my sister Qamar. [From] he who kisses your hand like your own son, ʿOvadya Dichachi (?)." ASE

Scattered names and numbers and scribbles, probably accounts, which are difficult to read but seem to be in a mixture of Ladino and Judaeo-Arabic. ASE

List of 36 names, all beginning with al-Shaykh Abū […]. Written on three vertical strips of paper. Goitein estimates the date to be from the time of the Nagid David, ca.1241, since מחרז (Muḥarraz?) appears also in T-S K15.25 from that year. Bodl. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Letter from Tiberias, containing a legal document recording their estate in the Muslim registration of Tiberias, dated 940. Ca. 1020

Letter from Musa b. Yishak b. Hisda from Mahdiyya, to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal, Fustat. The letter mentions details about shipments from and to Sicily. Describes how the workers on the ship had to hide merchandise in the sea when they encounter soldiers and that damaged a large amount of the goods they shipped. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #190) VMR

Legal document from Fustat, Elul 5500 (1740 CE), involving the division of profits between the three partners Avraham Serrano, Moshe Meyuḥas, and Avraham Ṣadīq and a fourth merchant, Avraham Revaḥ. The four businessmen are in the גֿוהאגֿיליך trade and they supply the princes and nobles of Egypt. This may be çuhacılık, which seems to be a type of weaving, but somebody who knows Turkish ought to examine it. Verso is also filled with text, in at least different hands, apparently a halakhic discussion. It is not clear if it relates to recto. A sum in reales is named. ASE

Bill of sale for a female slave. Written and signed by Moshe b. Elʿazar. Also signed by Avraham b. Hillel b. Ṣadoq Av. Location: Cairo. Dated: 5 Kislev 1519 Seleucid, which is 1207 CE. The name of the female slave (here called Heb. shifḥa) is missing. Seller: Shemuel ha-Levi. Buyer: Ḥasan/Yefet ha-Levi known as Ibn al-Batnūnī (אלבתנוני). Price: 21 dinars. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card and from Craig Perry.)

Fragment of a letter of a cantor describing the visit of the Nagid in a town, probably Alexandria, during the holidays. The Nagid visited the synagogue of the Babylonians. 300 persons were present. Also lists prices of wheat and bread and reports that the oppressive measures had been slightly relaxed. (Information from Goitein notes and index card.)

Petition to a Fatimid caliph. Fragmentary. Possibly offering congratulations/prayers on the occasion of a new caliph coming to power (... fī ḥulūl mulk mawlānā amīr al-muʾminīn...).